Indian scientists turn coconut oil into biofuel

Kochi: Scientists who have been running the four-stroke diesel engine of a light pick-up truck on coconut oil for the past one year have approached the union government to commercialise the biofuel.

The scientists are attached to the Kochi-based SCMS Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology Research and Development and the SCMS School of Engineering and Technology.

While the manufacturers of the Tata Ace claim mileage of 16 km to a litre of diesel, the vehicle can run 22.5 km per litre of the biofuel, the scientists say.

“We purchased this brand new vehicle a year back. By now, it has done 20,000 km and has proved beyond doubt that coconut oil can replace diesel. We can provide this product at Rs.40 a litre,” C. Mohankumar, who heads the team of six scientists, told IANS.

A new philosophy of money for the modern age

The kids were shocked when I told them that if they had been born in the olden days, they would have to hunt for their food. “But we don’t even know where burgers live,” said one.

“They live in caves,” I explained. “In America. And they have claws.”

Modern parents must teach children that everything has a cost in money or effort. To do this, I share cash-related stories from the newspaper. Recent example: A sneaky jeweller who wanted to hide his sales from the taxman sold six million euros worth of jewellery for cash. The buyers took the jewellery and left him with a suitcase full of Monopoly money.

Antarctica, a laboratory for climate change research

Fildes Bay (Antarctica): Antarctica has become a laboratory for research on climate change as a result of the impact that global warming is having on some of the continent’s regions and its role in regulating the Earth’s climate.

The effects of climate change are most evident on the Antarctic Peninsula and in the South Shetland Islands, the white continent’s northern tip.

“Over the last century, the Earth’s average temperature has risen about 0.74 degrees C (2.4 degrees F), while in the Antarctic Peninsula in just 60 years it has risen almost 3 degrees C (6.8 F),” Ricardo Jaña, an expert on glaciers and climate change at the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH) said.